Why it matters
A dark figure with glowing eyes plays a flute in the moonlight at the edge of a jungle, while snakes are drawn to the music. The Musée d'Orsay describes it as 'a black Eve in a disquieting Garden of Eden'.
Did you know?
- It was painted in 1907 as Rousseau's first large commission.
- It was commissioned by the mother of the painter Robert Delaunay.
- Rousseau never left France; the plants came from the Jardin des Plantes and magazines.
- It inspired Sylvia Plath's poem 'Snakecharmer'.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Snake Charmer (Rousseau) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
